A remake/remaster of Naughty Dog’s 2001 platformer, Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, was pitched to Sony Interactive Entertainment some time ago.
According to senior animator Travis Howe (via shinobi602 on Twitter/X), Sanzaru Games, the developer behind Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time and Asgard’s Wrath, had pitched a remake/remaster of Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy to Sony Interactive Entertainment a “long while back.” He shared a frame-by-frame recreation of an in-game cinematic from the 2001 original with better graphics in his LinkedIn post. It was developed to present alongside the pitch to Sony.
“A long while back, a team was assembled to pitch a remaster of Jak & Daxter,” said Howe. “I was asked to animate an IGC shot-for-shot, to show what this updated version would look like.” He clarified that the cinematic demo wasn’t commissioned by Sony Interactive Entertainment.”To be abundantly clear: this was NOT commissioned by Sony, nor did they have any involvement in our proposal — this was essentially a fan pitch to try and gain their permission,” he added.
Ultimately, the pitch wasn’t approved by Sony Interactive Entertainment, but Towe is pleased with how the recreated demo turned out. “Although the remaster wasn’t to be, I’m really proud of how it came together!” he said. He asked fans to share his LinkedIn post and get the word out if they’d still like to see a remake of Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy.
For the uninitiated, Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy is a 3D platformer released on December 4, 2001, for the PlayStation 2. Players take control of Jak, who embarks on a journey to restore his companion Daxter after he is transformed into an “ottsel,” a fictional creature combining traits of an otter and a weasel. What begins as a personal mission gradually expands into a larger quest to prevent a rogue sage from spreading corruption across the world. The game is set in a unified, non-linear environment, enabling players to move freely between connected regions.
